Kalamazoo Introduces Food Scrap Recycling Pilot Program

Finding ways to keep our Earth home safe and clean has continued to be a focal point for local, state, and federal governments in not only the United States but all over the world. Since the mid 2000s reduce, reuse, and recycle has become more than a mantra and now feels more like a way of life. Unfortunately, we haven't done the best with this and are still running into some issues.

Get our free mobile app

For years, the amount of waste we have accumulated, burned, and disposed of in many other ways has piled up. This creates problems for the Earth and its atmosphere that we are now seeing take its toll by way of global warming and other atmospheric and weather phenomenon. There have been many policies and programs put in place to help with recycling but what about waste?

Michigan is one of the many states in the country that is focusing on recycling as much as they can because of the Great Lakes. They want to keep the state's environment in great shape to preserve the lakes and other natural parts. While the state has great ways to recycle many items, they still have the same problems as other states, lack of participation and food waste.

For the longest there was no way to dispose of food waste other than to throw it in the garbage, have it picked up by a garbage company, and taken to a landfill to be burned. Now, the City of Kalamazoo is looking to make some changes to that by introducing a new pilot program that could find a better process for disposing of food waste.

Kalamazoo is starting a free food scrap program where they are hoping to provide a more convenient way to recycle food scraps and other materials while also reducing the amount of organic waste sent to landfills, which the city hopes will reduce greenhouse gas emissions and promote healthier soil through composting.

Pilot Food Scraps Recycling Program Coming To Kalamazoo

Although the program won't accept plastic bags and containers, pet waste, Styrofoam and glass or metal, they will accept the following items:

fruits
vegetables
seafood
meat
bones
dairy
sugar
bread
pizza boxes
BPI-certified compostable products
soiled paper products
and more

Food scraps may be collected in a food-grade bucket with a lid and can be dropped off once a week or whenever the bucket is full. There will be 3 drop off sites at the following locations:

This pilot program will last for the rest of 2025 and participation will be one of the deciding factors on if the program stays for the long run.